Therefore do not let anyone judge you with respect to food or drink, or in the matter of a feast, new moon, or Sabbath days–

所以，不拘在饮食上，或节期、月朔、安息日都不可让人论断你们。

所以，不要让任何人在饮食上，或节期、初一、安息日等事上评断你们。

所以，不要让任何人在饮食上，或节期、初一、安息日等事上评断你们。

所以，不可让人在饮食、节期、朔日或安息日的事上批评你们。

所以不要让人因着饮食、节期、月朔、安息日批评你们，

所以，在吃喝的事上，或在有关节日、月朔或安息日的事上，不要让人评断你们。

所以，不拘在飲食上，或節期、月朔、安息日都不可讓人論斷你們。

所以，不要讓任何人在飲食上，或節期、初一、安息日等事上評斷你們。

所以，不要讓任何人在飲食上，或節期、初一、安息日等事上評斷你們。

所以，不可讓人在飲食、節期、朔日或安息日的事上批評你們。

所以不要讓人因著飲食、節期、月朔、安息日批評你們，

所以別在喫喝上、或年節月初一安息日的方面上、讓人論斷你們了。

所以，在吃喝的事上，或在有關節日、月朔或安息日的事上，不要讓人評斷你們。

是以勿因飲食、節期、月朔、安息日、被人擬議、

爾勿以飲食、節期、月朔、安息日故、被人擬議、

故人勿因飲食、節期、月朔、安息日而議論爾曹、

是故若有人以飲食、節期、新月、安息等事、訾議爾等、弗恤可也。

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.

So don’t let anyone judge you because of what you eat or drink. Don’t let anyone judge you about holy days. I’m talking about special feasts and New Moons and Sabbath days.

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.

So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths.

Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day.

Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food and drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon, or a Sabbath day—

So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a sabbath day:

Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day.

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath[ days]:

Let no one therefore judge you in eating, or in drinking, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day,

One person regards one day holier than other days, and another regards them all alike. Each must be fully convinced in his own mind.The one who observes the day does it for the Lord. The one who eats, eats for the Lord because he gives thanks to God, and the one who abstains from eating abstains for the Lord, and he gives thanks to God.

But you who eat vegetables only– why do you judge your brother or sister? And you who eat everything– why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

Therefore we must not pass judgment on one another, but rather determine never to place an obstacle or a trap before a brother or sister.I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean in itself; still, it is unclean to the one who considers it unclean.For if your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy by your food someone for whom Christ died.Therefore do not let what you consider good be spoken of as evil.For the kingdom of God does not consist of food and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

You are observing religious days and months and seasons and years.

and whenever burnt sacrifices were offered to the LORD on the Sabbath and at new moon festivals and assemblies. A designated number were to serve before the LORD regularly in accordance with regulations.

It will be the duty of the prince to provide the burnt offerings, the grain offering, and the drink offering at festivals, on the new moons and Sabbaths, at all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel; he will provide the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel.

What defiles a person is not what goes into the mouth; it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person.”

One person believes in eating everything, but the weak person eats only vegetables.The one who eats everything must not despise the one who does not, and the one who abstains must not judge the one who eats everything, for God has accepted him.

for the loaves of presentation and for the regular grain offerings and regular burnt offerings, for the Sabbaths, for the new moons, for the appointed meetings, for the holy offerings, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the temple of our God.

Do not be carried away by all sorts of strange teachings. For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not ritual meals, which have never benefited those who participated in them.

But if someone says to you,“ This is from a sacrifice,” do not eat, because of the one who told you and because of conscience–I do not mean yours but the other person’s. For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience?If I partake with thankfulness, why am I blamed for the food that I give thanks for?So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.

Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. For although all things are clean, it is wrong to cause anyone to stumble by what you eat.It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything that causes your brother to stumble.

Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters. He who speaks against a fellow believer or judges a fellow believer speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but its judge.

Until certain people came from James, he had been eating with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he stopped doing this and separated himself because he was afraid of those who were pro- circumcision.And the rest of the Jews also joined with him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray with them by their hypocrisy.

They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.For every creation of God is good and no food is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.For it is sanctified by God’s word and by prayer.

The LORD spoke to Moses:“ Command the Israelites:‘ With regard to my offering, be sure to offer my food for my offering made by fire, as a pleasing aroma to me at its appointed time.’You will say to them,‘ This is the offering made by fire which you must offer to the LORD: two unblemished lambs one year old each day for a continual burnt offering.The first lamb you must offer in the morning, and the second lamb you must offer in the late afternoon,with one-tenth of an ephah of finely ground flour as a grain offering mixed with one quarter of a hin of pressed olive oil.It is a continual burnt offering that was instituted on Mount Sinai as a pleasing aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD.“‘ And its drink offering must be one quarter of a hin for each lamb. You must pour out the strong drink as a drink offering to the LORD in the holy place.And the second lamb you must offer in the late afternoon; just as you offered the grain offering and drink offering in the morning, you must offer it as an offering made by fire, as a pleasing aroma to the LORD.“‘ On the Sabbath day, you must offer two unblemished lambs a year old, and two-tenths of an ephah of finely ground flour as a grain offering, mixed with olive oil, along with its drink offering.This is the burnt offering for every Sabbath, besides the continual burnt offering and its drink offering.“‘ On the first day of each month you must offer as a burnt offering to the LORD two young bulls, one ram, and seven unblemished lambs a year old,with three-tenths of an ephah of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering for each bull, and two-tenths of an ephah of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering for the ram,and one-tenth of an ephah of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering for each lamb, as a burnt offering for a pleasing aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD.For their drink offerings, include half a hin of wine with each bull, one-third of a hin for the ram, and one-fourth of a hin for each lamb. This is the burnt offering for each month throughout the months of the year.And one male goat must be offered to the LORD as a purification offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering and its drink offering.“‘ On the fourteenth day of the first month is the LORD’s Passover.And on the fifteenth day of this month is the festival. For seven days bread made without yeast must be eaten.And on the first day there is to be a holy assembly; you must do no ordinary work on it.“‘ But you must offer to the LORD an offering made by fire, a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs one year old; they must all be unblemished.And their grain offering is to be of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil. For each bull you must offer three-tenths of an ephah, and two-tenths for the ram.For each of the seven lambs you are to offer one-tenth of an ephah,as well as one goat for a purification offering, to make atonement for you.You must offer these in addition to the burnt offering in the morning which is for a continual burnt offering.In this manner you must offer daily throughout the seven days the food of the sacrifice made by fire as a sweet aroma to the LORD. It is to be offered in addition to the continual burnt offering and its drink offering.On the seventh day you are to have a holy assembly, you must do no regular work.“‘ Also, on the day of the first fruits, when you bring a new grain offering to the LORD during your Feast of Weeks, you are to have a holy assembly. You must do no ordinary work.But you must offer as the burnt offering, as a sweet aroma to the LORD, two young bulls, one ram, seven lambs one year old,with their grain offering of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil: three-tenths of an ephah for each bull, two-tenths for the one ram,with one-tenth for each of the seven lambs,

Then he said to them,“ The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath.For this reason the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

For it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and then goes out into the sewer.”( This means all foods are clean.)

They served only for matters of food and drink and various washings; they are external regulations imposed until the new order came.

He said,“ Why do you want to go see him today? It is not the new moon or the Sabbath.” She said,“ Everything’s fine.”

Observe the month Abib and keep the Passover to the LORD your God, for in that month he brought you out of Egypt by night.You must sacrifice the Passover animal( from the flock or the herd) to the LORD your God in the place where he chooses to locate his name.You must not eat any yeast with it; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, symbolic of affliction, for you came out of Egypt hurriedly. You must do this so you will remember for the rest of your life the day you came out of the land of Egypt.There must not be a scrap of yeast within your land for seven days, nor can any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until the next morning.You may not sacrifice the Passover in just any of your villages that the LORD your God is giving you,but you must sacrifice it in the evening in the place where he chooses to locate his name, at sunset, the time of day you came out of Egypt.You must cook and eat it in the place the LORD your God chooses; you may return the next morning to your tents.You must eat bread made without yeast for six days. The seventh day you are to hold an assembly for the LORD your God; you must not do any work on that day.You must count seven weeks; you must begin to count them from the time you begin to harvest the standing grain.Then you are to celebrate the Festival of Weeks before the LORD your God with the voluntary offering that you will bring, in proportion to how he has blessed you.You shall rejoice before him– you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites in your villages, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows among you– in the place where the LORD chooses to locate his name.Furthermore, remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and so be careful to observe these statutes.You must celebrate the Festival of Temporary Shelters for seven days, at the time of the grain and grape harvest.You are to rejoice in your festival, you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows who are in your villages.You are to celebrate the festival seven days before the LORD your God in the place he chooses, for he will bless you in all your productivity and in whatever you do; so you will indeed rejoice!Three times a year all your males must appear before the LORD your God in the place he chooses for the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Temporary Shelters; and they must not appear before him empty-handed.Every one of you must give as you are able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you.

The LORD spoke to Moses:“ Speak to the Israelites and tell them,‘ These are the LORD’s appointed times which you must proclaim as holy assemblies– my appointed times:“‘ Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there must be a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy assembly. You must not do any work; it is a Sabbath to the LORD in all the places where you live.“‘ These are the LORD’s appointed times, holy assemblies, which you must proclaim at their appointed time.In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, is a Passover offering to the LORD.Then on the fifteenth day of the same month will be the festival of unleavened bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.On the first day there will be a holy assembly for you; you must not do any regular work.You must present a gift to the LORD for seven days, and the seventh day is a holy assembly; you must not do any regular work.’”The LORD spoke to Moses:“ Speak to the Israelites and tell them,‘ When you enter the land that I am about to give to you and you gather in its harvest, then you must bring the sheaf of the first portion of your harvest to the priest,and he must wave the sheaf before the LORD to be accepted for your benefit– on the day after the Sabbath the priest is to wave it.On the day you wave the sheaf you must also offer a flawless yearling lamb for a burnt offering to the LORD,along with its grain offering, two tenths of an ephah of choice wheat flour mixed with olive oil, as a gift to the LORD, a soothing aroma, and its drink offering, one fourth of a hin of wine.You must not eat bread, roasted grain, or fresh grain until this very day, until you bring the offering of your God. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all the places where you live.“‘ You must count for yourselves seven weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day you bring the wave offering sheaf; they must be complete weeks.You must count fifty days– until the day after the seventh Sabbath– and then you must present a new grain offering to the LORD.From the places where you live you must bring two loaves of bread for a wave offering; they must be made from two tenths of an ephah of fine wheat flour, baked with yeast, as first fruits to the LORD.Along with the loaves of bread, you must also present seven flawless yearling lambs, one young bull, and two rams. They are to be a burnt offering to the LORD along with their grain offering and drink offerings, a gift of a soothing aroma to the LORD.You must also offer one male goat for a sin offering and two yearling lambs for a peace offering sacrifice,and the priest is to wave them– the two lambs– along with the bread of the first fruits, as a wave offering before the LORD; they will be holy to the LORD for the priest.“‘ On this very day you must proclaim an assembly; it is to be a holy assembly for you. You must not do any regular work. This is a perpetual statute in all the places where you live throughout your generations.When you gather in the harvest of your land, you must not completely harvest the corner of your field, and you must not gather up the gleanings of your harvest. You must leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.’”The LORD spoke to Moses:“ Tell the Israelites,‘ In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you must have a complete rest, a memorial announced by loud horn blasts, a holy assembly.You must not do any regular work, but you must present a gift to the LORD.’”The LORD spoke to Moses:“ The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It is to be a holy assembly for you, and you must humble yourselves and present a gift to the LORD.You must not do any work on this particular day, because it is a day of atonement to make atonement for yourselves before the LORD your God.Indeed, any person who does not behave with humility on this particular day will be cut off from his people.As for any person who does any work on this particular day, I will exterminate that person from the midst of his people!You must not do any work. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all the places where you live.It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must humble yourselves on the ninth day of the month in the evening, from evening until evening you must observe your Sabbath.”The LORD spoke to Moses:“ Tell the Israelites,‘ On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Festival of Temporary Shelters for seven days to the LORD.On the first day is a holy assembly; you must do no regular work.For seven days you must present a gift to the LORD. On the eighth day there is to be a holy assembly for you, and you must present a gift to the LORD. It is a solemn assembly day; you must not do any regular work.“‘ These are the appointed times of the LORD that you must proclaim as holy assemblies to present a gift to the LORD– burnt offering, grain offering, sacrifice, and drink offerings, each day according to its regulation,besides the Sabbaths of the LORD and all your gifts, votive offerings, and freewill offerings which you must give to the LORD.“‘ On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather in the produce of the land, you must celebrate a pilgrim festival of the LORD for seven days. On the first day is a complete rest and on the eighth day is complete rest.On the first day you must take for yourselves branches from majestic trees– palm branches, branches of leafy trees, and willows of the brook– and you must rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.You must celebrate it as a pilgrim festival to the LORD for seven days in the year. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you must celebrate it in the seventh month.You must live in temporary shelters for seven days; every native citizen in Israel must live in temporary shelters,so that your future generations may know that I made the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.’”So Moses spoke to the Israelites about the appointed times of the LORD.

Sound the ram’s horn on the day of the new moon, and on the day of the full moon when our festival begins.

But this knowledge is not shared by all. And some, by being accustomed to idols in former times, eat this food as an idol sacrifice, and their conscience, because it is weak, is defiled.Now food will not bring us close to God. We are no worse if we do not eat and no better if we do.But be careful that this liberty of yours does not become a hindrance to the weak.For if someone weak sees you who possess knowledge dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience be“ strengthened” to eat food offered to idols?So by your knowledge the weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed.If you sin against your brothers or sisters in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.For this reason, if food causes my brother or sister to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I may not cause one of them to sin.

It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must humble yourselves. It is a perpetual statute.

“ Tell the Israelites:‘ This is the kind of creature you may eat from among all the animals that are on the land.You may eat any among the animals that has a divided hoof( the hooves are completely split in two) and that also chews the cud.However, you must not eat these from among those that chew the cud and have divided hooves: The camel is unclean to you because it chews the cud even though its hoof is not divided.The rock badger is unclean to you because it chews the cud even though its hoof is not divided.The hare is unclean to you because it chews the cud even though its hoof is not divided.The pig is unclean to you because its hoof is divided( the hoof is completely split in two), even though it does not chew the cud.You must not eat from their meat and you must not touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.“‘ These you can eat from all creatures that are in the water: Any creatures in the water that have both fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the streams, you may eat.But any creatures that do not have both fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the streams, from all the swarming things of the water and from all the living creatures that are in the water, are detestable to you.Since they are detestable to you, you must not eat their meat and their carcass you must detest.Any creature in the water that does not have both fins and scales is detestable to you.“‘ These you are to detest from among the birds– they must not be eaten, because they are detestable: the griffon vulture, the bearded vulture, the black vulture,the kite, the buzzard of any kind,every kind of crow,the eagle owl, the short-eared owl, the long-eared owl, the hawk of any kind,the little owl, the cormorant, the screech owl,the white owl, the scops owl, the osprey,the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.“‘ Every winged swarming thing that walks on all fours is detestable to you.However, this you may eat from all the winged swarming things that walk on all fours, which have jointed legs to hop with on the land.These you may eat from them: the locust of any kind, the bald locust of any kind, the cricket of any kind, the grasshopper of any kind.But any other winged swarming thing that has four legs is detestable to you.“‘ By these you defile yourselves; anyone who touches their carcass will be unclean until the evening,and anyone who carries their carcass must wash his clothes and will be unclean until the evening.“‘ All animals that divide the hoof but it is not completely split in two and do not chew the cud are unclean to you; anyone who touches them becomes unclean.All that walk on their paws among all the creatures that walk on all fours are unclean to you. Anyone who touches their carcass will be unclean until the evening,and the one who carries their carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; they are unclean to you.“‘ Now this is what is unclean to you among the swarming things that swarm on the land: the rat, the mouse, the large lizard of any kind,the Mediterranean gecko, the spotted lizard, the wall gecko, the skink, and the chameleon.These are the ones that are unclean to you among all the swarming things. Anyone who touches them when they die will be unclean until evening.Also, anything they fall on when they die will become unclean– any wood vessel or garment or article of leather or sackcloth. Any such vessel with which work is done must be immersed in water and will be unclean until the evening. Then it will become clean.As for any clay vessel they fall into, everything in it will become unclean and you must break it.Any food that may be eaten which becomes soaked with water will become unclean. Anything drinkable in any such vessel will become unclean.Anything their carcass may fall on will become unclean. An oven or small stove must be smashed to pieces; they are unclean, and they will stay unclean to you.However, a spring or a cistern which collects water will be clean, but one who touches their carcass will be unclean.Now, if such a carcass falls on any sowing seed which is to be sown, it is clean,but if water is put on the seed and such a carcass falls on it, it is unclean to you.“‘ Now if an animal that you may eat dies, whoever touches its carcass will be unclean until the evening.One who eats from its carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening, and whoever carries its carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening.Every swarming thing that swarms on the land is detestable; it must not be eaten.You must not eat anything that crawls on its belly or anything that walks on all fours or on any number of legs of all the swarming things that swarm on the land, because they are detestable.Do not make yourselves detestable by any of the swarming things. You must not defile yourselves by them and become unclean by them,for I am the LORD your God and you are to sanctify yourselves and be holy because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any of the swarming things that creep on the ground,for I am the LORD who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God, and you are to be holy because I am holy.This is the law of the land animals, the birds, all the living creatures that move in the water, and all the creatures that swarm on the land,to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between the living creatures that may be eaten and the living creatures that must not be eaten.’”

“‘ Any man from the house of Israel or from the foreigners who reside in their midst who eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats the blood, and I will cut him off from the midst of his people,for the life of every living thing is in the blood. So I myself have assigned it to you on the altar to make atonement for your lives, for the blood makes atonement by means of the life.Therefore, I have said to the Israelites: No person among you is to eat blood, and no resident foreigner who lives among you is to eat blood.“‘ Any man from the Israelites or from the foreigners who reside in their midst who hunts a wild animal or a bird that may be eaten must pour out its blood and cover it with soil,for the life of all flesh is its blood. So I have said to the Israelites: You must not eat the blood of any living thing because the life of every living thing is its blood– all who eat it will be cut off.“‘ Any person who eats an animal that has died of natural causes or an animal torn by beasts, whether a native citizen or a foreigner, must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening; then he becomes clean.

Do not bring any more meaningless offerings; I consider your incense detestable! You observe new moon festivals, Sabbaths, and convocations, but I cannot tolerate sin-stained celebrations!

David said to Jonathan,“ Tomorrow is the new moon, and I am certainly expected to join the king for a meal. You must send me away so I can hide in the field until the third evening from now.

You say,“ When will the new moon festival be over, so we can sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, so we can open up the grain bins? We’re eager to sell less for a higher price, and to cheat the buyer with rigged scales!

And I said,“ Ah, sovereign LORD, I have never been ceremonially defiled before. I have never eaten a carcass or an animal torn by wild beasts; from my youth up, unclean meat has never entered my mouth.”

saying,“ You went to uncircumcised men and shared a meal with them.”But Peter began and explained it to them point by point, saying,“ I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, an object something like a large sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came to me.As I stared I looked into it and saw four- footed animals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, and wild birds.I also heard a voice saying to me,‘ Get up, Peter; slaughter and eat!’But I said,‘ Certainly not, Lord, for nothing defiled or ritually unclean has ever entered my mouth!’But the voice replied a second time from heaven,‘ What God has made clean, you must not consider ritually unclean!’This happened three times, and then everything was pulled up to heaven again.At that very moment, three men sent to me from Caesarea approached the house where we were staying.The Spirit told me to accompany them without hesitation. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house.He informed us how he had seen an angel standing in his house and saying,‘ Send to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter,who will speak a message to you by which you and your entire household will be saved.’Then as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as he did on us at the beginning.And I remembered the word of the Lord, as he used to say,‘ John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’Therefore if God gave them the same gift as he also gave us after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to hinder God?”When they heard this, they ceased their objections and praised God, saying,“ So then, God has granted the repentance that leads to life even to the Gentiles.”

We will not buy on the Sabbath or on a holy day from the neighboring peoples who bring their wares and all kinds of grain to sell on the Sabbath day. We will let the fields lie fallow every seventh year, and we will cancel every loan.

Jonathan said to him,“ Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed, for your seat will be empty.

but that we should write them a letter telling them to abstain from things defiled by idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood.

I will remember and weep! For I was once walking along with the great throng to the temple of God, shouting and giving thanks along with the crowd as we celebrated the holy festival.

“‘ This is what the sovereign LORD says: The gate of the inner court that faces east will be closed six working days, but on the Sabbath day it will be opened and on the day of the new moon it will be opened.The prince will enter by way of the porch of the gate from the outside, and will stand by the doorpost of the gate. The priests will provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he will bow down at the threshold of the gate and then go out. But the gate will not be closed until evening.The people of the land will bow down at the entrance of that gate before the LORD on the Sabbaths and on the new moons.

You must not eat any forbidden thing.These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,the ibex, the gazelle, the deer, the wild goat, the antelope, the wild oryx, and the mountain sheep.You may eat any animal that has hooves divided into two parts and that chews the cud.However, you may not eat the following animals among those that chew the cud or those that have divided hooves: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger.( Although they chew the cud, they do not have divided hooves and are therefore ritually impure to you).Also the pig is ritually impure to you; though it has divided hooves, it does not chew the cud. You may not eat their meat or even touch their remains.These you may eat from among water creatures: anything with fins and scales you may eat,but whatever does not have fins and scales you may not eat; it is ritually impure to you.All ritually clean birds you may eat.These are the ones you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture,the kite, the black kite, the dayyah after its species,every raven after its species,the ostrich, the owl, the seagull, the falcon after its species,the little owl, the long-eared owl, the white owl,the jackdaw, the carrion vulture, the cormorant,the stork, the heron after its species, the hoopoe, the bat,and any winged thing on the ground are impure to you– they may not be eaten.You may eat any clean bird.You may not eat any corpse, though you may give it to the resident foreigner who is living in your villages and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. You are a people holy to the LORD your God. Do not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

“ Also in the time when you rejoice, such as on your appointed festivals or at the beginnings of your months, you must blow with your trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings, so that they may become a memorial for you before your God: I am the LORD your God.”

Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priestly scribe, and the Levites who were imparting understanding to the people said to all of them,“ This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping when they heard the words of the law.